


Merlin is a cat? Yes, Merlin is a cat.

by joggerwriting



Series: The CATastrophe in King Arthur's Court [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon is So Done, Canon Divergence - Everyone is Alive and Happy, Cat Merlin (Merlin), Court Sorcerer Merlin (Merlin), Days without a normal Merlin stress him out, Established Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Fluff and Humor, Grumpy Arthur Pendragon, Inspired by Cat Pics on Twitter and Tumblr, M/M, because I said so, crack? maybe, merlin is a mess, please forgive Arthur he just misses his Merlin so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28732725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joggerwriting/pseuds/joggerwriting
Summary: Merlin has turned himself into a cat.Arthur would really love it if Merlin would juststopbeing an adorable little shit and let him be mad in peace.Becauseof course.... his idiot has now been stuck as a cat for days and Arthur's getting frustrated. He would rather....umm....cuddle in bedwith his warlock rather than with a furball, thank you very much.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: The CATastrophe in King Arthur's Court [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110770
Comments: 11
Kudos: 222





	Merlin is a cat? Yes, Merlin is a cat.

**Author's Note:**

> Rated T for curse words and mentions of sex.

This idea is inspired by twt and tumblr friends.

A post-reveal AU prompt: Merlin accidentally turned himself into a cat, much to Arthur's fond exasperation - OF COURSE he doesn't know how to turn back yet. Arthur is grumbling because his court sorcerer has been a cat for days, so Merlin goes up to him, and tries to cheer him up by laying his tiny cat head on Arthur's open palms. 

Illustration: ( _look at this cat! his golden eyes, his raven fur, his oh-so-innocent expression which is often adorned by a certain warlock when he's in trouble.. ~~tell me this isn't Merlin~~ )_

[source pics](https://twitter.com/PopuIarCats/status/1348483377494519808?s=20)

* * *

For all of Merlin's random bouts of wisdom that Arthur greatly treasures in his council, his warlock, Arthur decides, can be _such an idiot_.

.

Arthur sighs for the umpteenth time as he glares down at the raven ball of fur currently residing much too comfortably on his lap, whose large gold eyes are blinking innocently up at him. 

Undeterred, Arthur maintains his glare with brows furrowed as the innocent eyes gradually adopt a sheepish and apologetic quality.

The king finally relents, rolling his eyes and running a hand through his already messed-up hair - the result of one too many frustrated gestures and having no Merlin to help him properly groom. 

No, he's already got his hands full this morning trying to keep Merlin from licking him, because _that's how cats groom each other_ and Merlin's current cat brain translates "caring for Arthur" into _that._

_._

"Why, for the love of gods, would you turn yourself into a cat before looking for the counterspell, _Mer_ lin?" 

A soft, laughably pitiful _meow_ is all he gets as an answer, and the king manages to squash down yet another urge to sigh. 

.

It was incredibly amusing at first.

Arthur had just finished an afternoon session of council without his court warlock and consort in sight, and he was starting to get truly worried. He did remember Merlin assuring him this morning he would join late after he finished working out some spells he'd been experimenting. 

At first, Arthur thought Merlin was simply napping - it was not rare after all that he caught the warlock overextending himself to the point of exhaustion. But when the king found his and Merlin's chambers devoid of any stubborn sorcerer slumbering - nor prancing around for that matter - he was about to issue a castle-wide search, and possibly a city-wide search too. 

Because his idiot might be stuck somewhere dealing with a magical threat _on his own_ \- Arthur’s incessant reminder that he was no longer alone still had not sunk fully to that brain of his, unfortunately, and Arthur needed to find him quick.

That was… until he felt something small and furry curling up around his legs.

.

It was a cat - most likely still a _kitten_ judging by its tiny size. A pure black cat whose fur was so dark, it shone with a bluish tint under the rays of the early afternoon sunlight. Its tiny front paws were pawing at his boots, tail wagging happily - more like one of Arthur’s hunting dogs than a cat - when it saw the king finally paying attention to it.

Arthur stared at the pair of bright gold eyes, which looked too weirdly striking and unfamiliar on a cat’s face yet.. they were familiar to him. Too familiar. There was only one person whose eyes occasionally had that exact shade of gold. The person who was coincidentally missing at the moment. His mind made the absurd, but also the most likely conclusion.

_“Merlin…!?”_

The raven furball meowed abashedly. Or as abashed as a cat’s meow could be. Though Arthur could somehow hear the embarrassment in its…. _his_ voice, because that _was his Merlin._

Gently picking up his warlock-turned-small-cat from the ground, Arthur sniggered as a miffed expression flitted across the unresisting feline’s face, and his whiskers twitched in annoyance and resignation.

“Out of all the stupid things…,” the cat stilled and growled in his arms, and Arthur chuckled once again, “Come on, you’ve got to admit this is too funny. I know you hate those stuffy council meetings but must you go into such length to avoid them, _Mer_ lin? Oh look! You still have your huge ears in this form!” 

Merlin was positively glaring at him now. The warlock usually could deliver death glares pretty well, just ask any of Arthur’s enemies, but in this tiny form, it had the opposite effect and looked _absolutely adorable_ instead.

Arthur scratched the spot behind Merlin’s huge cat ears and grins as he felt his warlock going languid and starting to purr….before the cat’s huge eyes widened and he seemed to catch himself. He mewled loudly and kicked his paws in protest.

The king laughed.

.

Cradling the mortified cat gently in his arms, Arthur sat down on his and Merlin’s shared bed and then he put down his warlock on the soft cushion. He stared expectantly and crossed his arms. Merlin just meowed once again while looking around in confusion.

“Alright then, what are you waiting for?”

A questioning meow answered him.

“Come on, turn back, _Mer_ lin. We haven’t got all the time here.”

“ _....._ ”

“As amusing as it is, you’re my consort and the court sorcerer. You can’t be a bloody cat all day! Come on, lazy bum.”

The raven glared daggers at him, still looking awfully adorable, and gave him a look that could only be translated as “clotpole”. Then he let out a series of cat sounds that were near incomprehensible to Arthur before pausing, looking as exasperated as a cat could be.

“What are you saying? You know I can’t speak cat.”

Merlin honest-to-god rolled his eyes at him, that little shit--and having a small cat roll his eyes at you sure was a quick way to put things into perspective for Arthur: he, the king of camelot was having a one-sided conversation with a fucking cat. Granted, the cat was also the love of his life and his rather infuriatingly endearing warlock, but still….

The cat was observing his king silently as the realisation dawned on Arthur’s face, a shit-eating cat smirk on his face. Merlin blinked his smirk away and batted his eyes with mock innocence when Arthur glared at him again, letting out a crisp mewl.

“Why do I get the feeling that you’re calling me a prat right now?” The blonde muttered, running a hand on his hair. “Alright, can you turn back to your usual self now, love?”

Merlin suddenly looked downcast and refused to look at Arthur in the eye, choosing to examine his paws instead.

Arthur cursed.

“Dear lord,” he sighed. “We’ll try to figure out the way together. We always do.” 

Merlin looked up at his king fondly before jumping into Arthur’s arms, nuzzling against Arthur’s chest lovingly. And although he was surprised at first, Arthur could not help but smile and stroke Merlin’s soft fur, feeling like he was already missing his warlock - the actual version who could talk back and joke with him.

“Don’t worry, Merlin. By dinner, you’ll be back as normal as your idiotic self can be--ARGH no biting allowed! _Merlin!_ You absolute _...dollophead of a kitten!_ ”

“ _\--No licking allowed too!_ Stop licking me--stop. _Merlin!”_

_._

Unbeknownst to both Arthur and Merlin, the two guards outside the chambers exchanged a highly uncomfortable look at that moment, having only heard Arthur’s yelled bits of the conversation -- which they couldn’t help. They both unceremoniously agreed that a trip to the tavern was a necessary endeavour to drown the images conjured on their minds.

* * *

Arthur thinks he may have jinxed their chance of success now, because long past the dinnertime on that day--in fact, today is five days after Merlin’s... _incident_ \-- they’re still in the same place; him, alone missing one beloved warlock, and Merlin, still a cat.

The last five days is one of the longest periods of time Arthur has ever experienced…

.

Merlin has always had too much cheek for his own good - yet the cat transformation seems to _amplify_ this particular trait greatly. _Maybe he’s always meant to be a cat,_ Arthur thought despairingly as he saw yet another occasion of their chambers being ransacked by the raven ball of menace. 

Merlin, halting his rather one-sided fight against Arthur’s papers and reports, looked up and meowed happily as he saw his king entering the room from his perch on Arthur’s desk. Then, before Arthur could prevent it, he jumped not-so-agilely to a hanging rack and clumsily grabbed onto the top. But even with his small weight, the rack tilted and started to fall, bringing down one wide-eyed cat with it. Merlin let out a startled “eep” before the cat’s tiny body got buried under the clothes raining down from the crashing rack.

_._

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Arthur went to rescue the greatest warlock to ever walk the earth out of the pile of soft fabrics.

.

The mess that Merlin somehow manages to constantly make, has been difficult to explain to the rest of the castle’s inhabitants. You’d think that being a cat would give him increased agility but nooo… Merlin is still as clumsy as ever. Although, Arthur can’t find it in him to stay mad every single time at the mess that Merlin the cat has made. Their progress of researching the counterspell has also been greatly hindered by the fact that Merlin is insistent to be _a little shit_ to his own husband. Is it because of him having a cat mind?

Arthur honestly has no idea.

His warlock-turned cat can hardly stay still. He would stubbornly jump around furnitures trying to follow Arthur everywhere ( _with Arthur having to rescue the small cat from too many clumsily-executed landings),_ often _almost_ get in the way of a dangerous sword or axe swing ( _Arthur has to forcefully scoop his cat away from the training ground),_ and plant his cat butt cozily on top of Arthur’s papers whenever Arthur’s trying to write ( _acting cute and innocent while doing it)._

Moreover, explaining the warlock’s sudden disappearance was an even bigger effort than expected. The official story is Merlin has gone to help neuter a magical threat in the Kingdom of Nemeth, but although the council believes it - however weird that is Merlin travelling alone without Arthur - Guinevere, his Queen regent, and his closest knights have been giving Arthur and the black cat following him many strange looks. He's even caught Guinevere playing with Merlin - who acts really docile and friendly around her instead of his usual snarky self. So unfair.

But Arthur can’t just let anyone know how his court warlock has been stupid enough to change himself into a cat, can he?

.

Five days. Five long days of no counterspell in sight to turn his warlock back to normal so Arthur will stop feeling so much stress having to be alone without his husband. Of course, Merlin has tried to cheer Arthur up. He’s always stayed by Arthur’s side, nestled himself on the king’s lap - and refusing to move regardless of time and place. Arthur has had to conduct council meetings with one hand stroking the happily purring cat on his lap. 

He will of course remember this as a blackmail when Merlin turns back and regains his awareness of mind.

The stupid cat also insists on _sleeping with Arthur_ \- or more like, Arthur not wanting Merlin to end up sleeping on the cold floor, and thus placing the cat on Merlin’s usual spot next to him, and ending up waking with his face full of his warlock’s fluffy cat bum. _Because Merlin, that little shit in both forms, tends to sneak as close as humanly… or felinely? possible to Arthur’s body._

The king misses sleeping with the actual Merlin, not the fluffy furball version of him. He misses his husband ~~and it’s been five days since he’s had any mind-blowing magical sex and no we are absolutely not going to discuss this.~~

.

As if sensing the king’s distress, the raven cat purrs sadly in Arthur’s arms, giving his king a sad, defeated look.

Arthur’s heart melts and he hugs the warlock close, unable to resist giving a kiss to Merlin’s little pink nose. Merlin wiggles a bit in Arthur’s hold on him, so the blonde lets him go - but the small cat only circles the research table before nudging the king’s palms to open. The cat warlock then lays his head on Arthur’s palms, whiskers tickling the skin softly, looking at Arthur silently with his large gold eyes. 

“You’re going to be the death of me, aren’t you?” mutters Arthur softly, smiling down and trying hard not to coo like a maiden at the stunt. That would not be very kingly of him.

“Meow.”

“You’re an idiot, Merlin.”

“Meow.”

“Yes, yes. I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> ......in my defense, I wrote this because I can't get cat!Merlin out of my mind 😭
> 
> Whether Merlin is aware or not of his behaviour as a cat? Well, what do you think? 😋 ~~he's absolutely aware he's a little shit after all/~~
> 
> Anyway, this is sort of a crack? fic? And I'll add more of Merlin the Cat's chaotic adventures (and his poor stressed-out king husband) so stay tuned! ^^ (Feel free to share any cat Merlin prompt if you want me to try writing it :D -- I am honestly inclined to add a puppy!Arthur too in the future just to add to the chaos)
> 
> As always, I love you and thank you for reading, and your feedbacks are so appreciated 💖💖💖💖


End file.
